Apr. 6, 2013
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Sony's Xperia Tablet 7 can take a splash. / Roddy Blelloch

by Jennifer Jolly, Special for USA TODAY

by Jennifer Jolly, Special for USA TODAY

Sony's new Xperia Tablet Z makes quite a splash. It's a super thin, sleek 10-inch touchscreen that weighs just over a pound. It's about as thick as a print magazine - just 6.9mm, which Sony says makes it the thinnest 10.1-inch tablet in its class. It has an upscale, elegant, all-glass aesthetic, and fits into a purse or backpack with room to spare. It also makes for a handy TV remote control, and can pair with an app to keep you tweeting, texting, and totally tuned in to all kinds of multimedia entertainment on your TV. The Tablet Z is also the first to use Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 quad-core processor, which means that it's fast too.

The tablet is expected to be available at the end of May at $499 for a 16-gigabyte version or $599 for 32GB.

If thin, stylish, and fast were enough to truly take on the iPad, this would be an OK alternative for someone who simply prefers the Android operating system to Apple's iOS, or has other Sony gadgets for its One-touch sharing technology that makes use of near-field communication (NFC). But at the same price point as the iPad, it seems Sony knew it needed a product that could do something important that the iPad cannot: get wet.

The Tablet Z is waterproof. It can get splashed, soaked, and even downright submerged in water up to three feet for as long as 30 minutes. It's safe to spill on in the kitchen, snap photos on while perched poolside, and even lean up on the side of the tub to watch an episode of Downton Abbey while you relax in a bath. This is a feature that makes a messy busy mom like me very happy.

Will the waterproofing help make a serious dent against the market-leading iPad? No. After all, the iPad still has, as USA TODAY's Ed Baig points out, an embarrassment of riches when it comes to apps and overall ecosystem. Still, this is a device that should make Apple take note; it's time to up the game again - or at least waterproof it - if it wants to continue to float at the top of the tablet pool.

Jennifer Jolly is an Emmy award-winning consumer tech contributor and host of USA TODAY's digital video show TECH NOW. Email her at techcomments@usatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter: @JenniferJolly.